15 notable college football players who tanked their NFL Draft stock this season

The college football regular season is over and bowl season is right around the corner. Many teams are happy with how their season has gone, especially the teams that made the College Football Playoff. Others are either in bowl games they don't very much care about, or they didn't make a bowl at all. Teams like Oklahoma State (3-9), Florida State (2-7), and Kansas (5-7) all started the season in the Top 25, but they didn't even become bowl eligible. Others, like Oklahoma, USC, Michigan, and NC State all fell way below expectations.

Many of these teams are one good recruiting class and a few transfer portal flips from turning it around. The real issue of disappointment is for the players. If they don't live up to the hype, they will see a direct impact on their wallets. The difference in signing bonus for a fifth-overall pick and a 10th-overall pick is about $8 million. The difference between a top-10 pick and a second-round pick is tens of millions of dollars.

This season, we've seen dozens, and possibly hundreds of players see a change in their draft stock from the preseason. There are quite a few former first-round prospects that saw their stock plummet, and a few QB prospects see their opportunity to make a name for themselves slip.

15. Donovan Smith, QB
Houston Cougars

Donovan Smith came into the college football season with a chance to make a much bigger name for himself. The Houston quarterback is built the way quarterback-needy teams want. He’s sporting a 6-foot-5, 241-pound frame, which is the ideal player teams target when taking a chance on the quarterback position. Smith was coming into last season with a resume that left much to be desired. Houston was 4-8 last year, and Dana Holgerson got fired. But Smith had many Houston fans excited and draft pundits paying attention.

It couldn’t have gone worse for Smith or Houston. The Cougars did not fare much better under new head coach Willie Fritz. They finished 12th in the Big 12, a new Big 12 that was missing powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas. This was Houston’s chance to establish itself in a new Power 4 league. 

It was also Smith’s chance to play his way into the first round. We’ve seen many quarterbacks make it from “lesser pedigree” schools in the NFL. 

However, they have to deliver in college. Smith was bad at times, and he even had his starting spot questioned for most of the season. Now, he likely won’t even get drafted. Unless he is able to show off insane talent at the NFL Combine, Smith might be smart to find a way to return to school.

14. Colston Loveland, TE
Michigan Wolverines

Coming off a National Championship, Colston Loveland looked like he could have played his way into the top 10. The superstar tight end would hope to follow in the footsteps of players like Brock Bowers and Sam LaPorta to join the league and immediately make a difference. In fact, it’s Bowers and LaPorta as reason why Loveland could go in the first half of the round, as their impact really projected their offense from a position that’s not a strength in many places in the NFL.

Loveland hasn’t seen his stock drop like others on this list. He still has a chance to go in the first round. However, the numbers look odd. Yes, the quarterback is different, as J.J. McCarthy went to the Minnesota Vikings, and the Wolverines were left with Davis Warren, but it’s hard to argue anything besides that Loveland had a disappointing season.

Loveland had more receptions this season, but he was incredibly inefficient with his catches. His average per reception dropped from 14.4 last season to 10.4 this season. That’s mostly because of a putrid offense, as Loveland’s 582 yards were more than double what anyone else on the team had. 

This was all out of Loveland’s hands, which might help him when we’re talking draft stock, but it does leave questions. Teams don’t like questions from a non-premium position player that could go in the first round.

13. Emeka Egbuka, WR
Ohio State Buckeyes

There are a few players on this list that are playing in the College Football Playoff, and their performance on the biggest stage could change everything. Emeka Egbuka is one of those players. The star wide receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes was fine this season. He had 743 yards and nine touchdowns. Again, that’s fine, but Egbuka looked like a special receiver just two seasons ago when he had more than 1,100 yards. Now, he’s considered a project at the next level due to his inconsistent production. 

Egbuka could become a first-round pick with a good Playoff performance and an even better Combine. His route-running ability is going to be what teams fall in love with, so he needs to show an ability to break big plays from short routes. 

He didn’t do much of that this season. His 12.4 yards per reception was the worst of his four-year career. He broke 100 yards once this season, and it was Sep. 21 against Marshall. He didn’t do much against Michigan in a loss that defines their season, although his best game was against then-fifth-ranked Indiana when he had 80 yards and a touchdown. 

This can go a few different ways. If Egbuka has a huge finish to his season and Ohio State goes far, he could still be a top-15 pick. He could also fall to the middle of the second round. 

12. Emery Jones Jr., OT
LSU Tigers

Offensive line is always going to be a priority for many teams in the draft this season. There are a few great players at the position, and there are more than a dozen needy teams in the NFL. Really good tackles have a chance to drive up their draft stock. However, some tackles already failed to prove themselves.

Emery Jones Jr. had a real chance to be one of the top picks in this draft. He’s massive, standing 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds. On paper, Jones is exactly what a team needs. Unfortunately for Jones, football isn’t played on paper. On the field, there are issues, and the overall issues at LSU caused them to fall out of favor and the Top 25.

Emery Jones is different than anyone else on this list because his impacted draft stock is likely going to send him back to school. This season went so terribly for Jones that he’s switching positions. No, he’s not taking the position of Will Campbell, who is going to be a top-15 pick in the draft. Instead, he’s moving inside to better showcase himself at the next level. That’s rough. He’s gigantic, but his technical lapses have scouts concerned, and now Jones is likely heading back to LSU to try out guard. 

11. Conner Weigman, QB
Texas A&M Aggies

There are always a ton of quarterbacks with high stock in the preseason. Analysts are trying to predict the players who are going to stand out during the season. This season was especially interesting, as there was no Caleb Williams in the draft. Nobody was the consensus number-one overall pick, and there’s a good chance that the team that gets the number-one overall pick skips the quarterback all together. But still, there are some QBs who have seen their stock plummet. 

Conner Weigman is on this list because he went from a player many were interested in seeing as a prospect coming off a major shoulder injury to a player who may never see the NFL. Weigman had a rough season with Texas A&M, and he was eventually replaced by Marcel Reed. There is no point in even declaring for the draft as he wouldn’t get picked, and he doesn’t have a starting job at College Station. 

Weigman has no choice but to transfer. This is a former five-star prospect who seemed like a sure thing. He had NFL aspirations coming out of high school. This felt like a simple pivot point.

Instead, there’s a good chance that this is the last football Weigman plays. He might have to go to Canada or the UFL if he wants to continue his professional career. 

10. Deone Walker, DL
Kentucky Wildcats

Deone Walker is a player that some scouts think can do better at the next level than he was in college. This is a narrative we hear with many defensive linemen who are built like him. He’s 6-foot-6 and 345 pounds. It’s hard to build humans like that. It’s impressive to say the least. 

Walker did the one thing scouts hate the most when looking at college tape. He was dominant on some plays, but he didn’t seem to be dominant throughout the game. That’s something that has hurt the draft stock of dozens of linemen throughout the years. 

Some of his weight seems like it’s unnecessary, which is a strange way to consider weight, but we’re basically saying the positives of losing weight outweigh the negatives. He’s too big, and that hurt his production this season for Kentucky. He had 7.5 sacks in a breakout year last season. This season, he had 1.5 sacks. Walker had trouble breaking away from blocks, and it’s shown across his statline. He finished the regular season with just 13 solo tackles after putting up 28 last season.

Walker might still get overdrafted based on his profile, but he could have been a slam dunk if he just produced this season. He’s already declared for the draft, so he’s starting his professional career no matter where it puts him. 

9. Barrett Carter, LB
Clemson Tigers

Linebacker is a position that has been devalued over the past decade. We don’t see many go in the first round, but many thought that Barrett Carter had the chance to prove his worth. Listen, nobody is saying Carter had a bad season. He was still really good, but Clemson got into the College Football Playoff by pure luck. A Miami loss to Syracuse put the Tigers into the ACC Championship, and now they have a chance to shock everyone. Carter might have the highest boom or bust status to impact his draft stock as far as players in the first round. 

The issues for Carter have been magnified this season, and they aren’t what you want to hear from your linebacker. He has serious trouble in the running game, getting stuck on blocks when the offensive linemen get to the second level. He has issues in coverage and doesn’t see a lot of pass deflections. He’s not always hitting the right gap when rushing for either pass or run plays. 

There is still a great football player here. He’s really good at man coverage, so he could easily cover running backs or even tight ends at the next level. He’s also incredibly fast on the field, which helps him in the passing game. 

Many expected Carter to declare for the draft last season, but his return to Clemson might have actually hurt him more than helped him. He could still get into the first round if everything works out right. 

It’s hard to call the Georgia Bulldogs season anything besides a success. It was a journey unlike last season, but they came out of a dog fight (pun intended) with the SEC Championship. They are headed to the College Football Playoff with a bye after beating Texas in the Championship Game by three. Still, despite Georgia’s overall performance, it didn’t stop some players from seeing the NFL Draft stock fall. 

8. Mykel Williams, DL
Georgia Bulldogs

This is going to come with a large asterisk. Mykel Williams will have seen his draft stock drop as of this writing, but he did amazing things in the SEC Championship Game after a mediocre season. An ankle injury hampered Williams’ production from the inside, and it showed what happens when he doesn’t have that elite athleticism. Because of this, we assume his draft stock will take a hit.

However, if Williams is able to continue the type of performance he had against Texas (two sacks of Quinn Ewers, which nearly doubled his yearly total) during the College Football Playoff, then he’ll be a top-10 pick. If he can’t, he could fall to the 20s. There are few players in this draft who have this much money on the line on this tournament specifically. 

Williams has a natural talent that’s hard to find in football, and a team will likely want to take a chance on him. However, a “chance” at pick nine and a “chance” at pick 21 are very different. Williams stays on this list because of the concerns this year brought, but this is one that has a high likelihood of going the other way.

7. Ollie Gordon II, RB
Oklahoma State Cowboys

There is something about Oklahoma State running backs and deflating draft stock. Chuba Hubbard was expected to be a first or second-round pick by many projections, but then his last season left a lot on the table. The Carolina Panthers drafted him in the sixth round, and he’s eventually earned the starting role and has played well. It looks like the same fate is facing Ollie Gordon II.

Gordon was expected to spend his entire season on the highlight reel, but there are few highlights for a team that won three games all season and lost every conference game on their schedule. After putting up north of 1,700 yards last season, Gordon failed to break 900 this year. There were a million problems with the Cowboys, but it seems like a falling out between Gordon and head coach Mike Gundy led to a lot of hurt feelings in the locker room.

That falling out will only hurt Gordon’s stock. Coaches don’t like to hear a player has issues with the leaders, and the head coach is especially off limits. 

Honestly, it seems like Gordon’s draft journey is going to go about the same as Hubbard’s. We’d predict he goes in the sixth round to a team, but he has a shot to move up depending on what teams are prioritizing. Still, this was a player that had a chance to get Heisman buzz if he had a superstar season. This was the opposite of that.

6. Luke Lachey, TE
Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa is considered by many to be Tight End University. They’ve produced multiple NFL Draft picks, including superstars George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson, and Sam LaPorta. If there is anything Kirk Ferentz has done well at Iowa, it’s develop tight ends. 

That’s why many believed that Luke Lachey could return from last year’s leg injury and earn himself a first-round grade. The Iowa offense was supposed to be improved with new weapons to play with, and Kaleb Johnson responded as one of the most talented running backs in the country. The offense just never clicked, Iowa came out of 2024 as a disappointment, and most of its players are seeing their draft stock drop.

The issue with Lachey is his pure speed and athleticism. He doesn’t have that elite speed it takes to deliver at a high rate at the next level. Lachey could absolutely be a blocking tight end in the NFL, but that’s not going in the first round. It’s probably not even getting drafted. Some thought Lachey could show a different side of his game, but this is what he is. He’s a really good blocker and an average receiver. 

There were a few players from Iowa we could have picked, including Johnson, but Lachey was literally exposed. This is a huge development in his prospect chances. He can still make an impact, as we see with tight ends like Noah Gray, but it’s just not nearly as likely as some of the previous tight end greats in Iowa. 

5. Denzel Burke, CB
Ohio State Buckeyes

Denzel Burke went into this season as a possible top pick in the draft. Last season, many thought Burke was one of the best cornerbacks in college football. His reputation came from being a shutdown guy in the Big Ten. However, with the Big Ten adding incredibly talented teams like USC and Oregon, Burke had to face harder competition, and he didn’t respond well.

Burke was especially bad against Oregon. The number-one team in the country burned him for 179 yards back in October. He gave up multiple huge plays and let the Ducks score on him twice. Since that ended up being a one-point game against a team that finished the season number one in the country, the Buckeyes really hurt its seeding with those mistakes by Burke. 

There is a unique opportunity for Burke in the College Football Playoff. He can completely flip the narrative. Scouts are worried he can’t live up to the competition. The issue with that is everyone in the NFL is basically the best wide receiver in college football. Twenty teams have a superstar who could win the Heisman Trophy. 

If Burke can shut teams down during the Playoff, he can repair his stock, but there is serious damage done. He’ll start with Donte Thornton Jr. in their matchup with Tennessee. 

4. Jonah Savaiinaea, OT
Arizona Wildcats

Some thought the Arizona Wildcats were primed to play really well in the new-look Big 12. There were a bunch of new teams from the rubble that was the Pac-12, and there are other teams upgrading their status into a Power 4 conference. With Oklahoma and Texas gone, teams could grab the brass ring and even make the College Football Playoff. Arizona started the season ranked 21st, but that was the last time the good times rolled in Arizona. 

Everything pretty much flopped the second their Big 12 schedule started. They were dominated on multiple occasions. The defense was the real problem, but losing by double digits as often as Arizona did will hurt the draft stock of everyone involved. That didn’t stop offensive tackle Jonah Savaiinaea from declaring for the draft.

Savaiinaea still has a chance to be a first-round pick. However, his road isn’t as set in stone like it would have been if Arizona had a great season. He also missed the first game of his career at the worst possible time. Savaiinaea wasn’t able to suit up in the in-state rivalry matchup with Arizona State, which ended his college career prematurely. Now, scouts will be asking more questions about his medicals since his season ended on an injury instead of seeing him return to form. 

The injury wasn’t major, but it’s still bad timing. Savaiinaea goes into this process needed positive Combine and Pro Day numbers to keep himself in the conversation as a first rounder. He does have an ability to play multiple offensive line positions, which is in his favor, but teams looking for strictly a superstar offensive tackle may look at that in a negative light. We’ll see how everything plays out here, but there are more question marks now than there were before the season started.

3. Harold Perkins Jr., LB
LSU Tigers

The LSU Tigers were already on this list, and it’s because they were expected to have a really good season. Even if they weren’t able to make the Playoff, many at least expected their stars to shine. It didn’t really work out that way, but one of the main reasons the season went to heck is the status of star linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. He was going to be the star in the middle of the defense, but his season ended in September. 

LSU head coach Brian Kelly said that Perkins was gifted enough to play a traditional linebacker role while also covering receivers as if he were a cornerback. That’s exactly what scouts are looking for at the NFL level. Perkins might have been a top-10 pick in the draft this season. Even with how the Tigers season went, he could have worked his way into that conversation.

Unfortunately, that’s incredibly unlikely after he torn his ACL. He suffered the injury near the end of the game against UCLA, which the Tigers won handedly. The good news is by the time the NFL season starts, Perkins would be close to a full year recovered, but as we just saw with Jonathan Brooks of the Panthers, taking a guy in the draft while he’s recovering from a torn ACL is always a risk.

There is really no way to know now where Perkins would go in the draft if it were to happen today. Would he still make it into the first round? Would he fall to day two or even day three (that seems unlikely, but crazier things have happened)? He might not even declare for the draft at all. With NIL giving the players something, there's less of a need to head to the NFL, so Perkins might give LSU one more go.

2. Quinn Ewers, QB
Texas Longhorns

Prior to the season, there was legit buzz that University of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers could play his way into the top of the NFL Draft. It seemed like a very ambitious prediction, but they existed. There is an insane need for a quarterback in this draft, just as there was in this past year’s draft where five QBs went in the first round. Could we see a similar run like we did then? If we do, it seems unlikely Ewers is that guy with how his season has gone down the stretch. 

Ewers had a few really bad plays in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia that had to have scouts looking puzzled. He threw an interception on the first drive of the game, setting a ton nobody in Austin wanted. He also threw an interception in the fourth quarter that probably should have been a back breaker for Texas, but we’ll get to that in a moment. 

Ewers was able to crawl the Longhorns to overtime, but he had to settle for a field goal in the extra session while the Bulldogs scored a touchdown. Ewers wasn’t able to deliver against a top defense, and scouts will notice. 

Many had Ewers ranked high because he was able to hold off the prodigy Arch Manning. He’s one of the most exciting prospects at the position since Andrew Luck. Yet, Ewers is making the country wait with his play. Unfortunately, Ewers hasn’t had that same impact this year, and the draft will judge him for it. 

1. Carson Beck, QB
Georgia Bulldogs

The other quarterback in that game, the winning quarterback, is actually number one on this list. Carson Beck was many analyst’s number-one overall pick prior to the season. They thought the Georgia signal caller was going to have another dominant season after winning last season’s SEC Championship. He did repeat as conference champion, but he had a LOT of help getting there. 

Remember when we said Quinn Ewers threw an interception in a big moment against Georgia? It didn’t hurt Texas because Beck threw an interception three plays later. That’s not even the worst part. Beck suffered a major elbow injury in the game, a possible torn UCL, and his timetable to return is unknown. 

Add that injury to the fact that Beck was much worst this season (12 interceptions compared to six last season), and his draft stock is bound to fall. He’s already behind Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward, but he could fall further. Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and even Ewers could not go ahead of him. 

If Beck’s injury is worse than many hope, the stock will continue to fall. Elbow injuries are not something people want to mess with at the professional level. He might need Tommy John Surgery, which is a known commodity in pitchers. Brock Purdy did undergo the procedure, but he’s one of three professional QBs to get it. We don’t like that sample size.